It wasn’t quite the same frenzy as queuing outside an Apple store for a new iPhone, but it was close.
The Subaru BRZ coupe – claimed to be the first new car in Australia on sale exclusively online – has sold out in just three hours, which is believed to be a new record locally.
Australian bidding for the international hit opened at midday today, but got off to a slow start as the Subaru website struggled when internet traffic quadrupled.
Customers trying to order a car experienced hours of delays. Callers to the customer assistance line were told they could not leave their credit card details for the $3000 deposit and would have to keep trying the “BUY BRZ” button.
Throughout the afternoon, even after the problem was reportedly solved, several readers – and Drive – continued to struggle to get past the first stage of the buying process: inputting a postcode.
Subaru says the site eventually went "live" about 12.45pm eastern time (about 45 minutes later than planned) with the first customer starting the buying process at 12.50pm and completing the transaction at 1.09pm.
The last car was bought at 3.47pm, the car maker said. The next shipment of unsold vehicles is not due until next year.
Subaru trialled the internet-only buying process because it only has 201 BRZs for the remainder of this year; 50 of Subaru’s 105 dealers bought demonstrator models, leaving 150 or so for retail customers.
Subaru would have had two more cars to sell – but it had to crash two during testing for its five-star safety score.
Sydneysider Kurt Sims, 29, was one of the first buyers to complete a transaction.
“I got on the site at midday and it just kept crashing,” he told Drive. “I called their customer assistance line and they told me to keep trying. They wouldn’t take my credit card details over the phone.”
Sims ordered a red manual BRZ and chose it over the Toyota because, by his calculations, it was cheaper than the Toyota once leather and navigation were removed.
“The only ones you could get within a month were white, grey and black,” he said.
He will have to wait four months for his car – which he bought without taking for a test drive.
Sims, who will park his BRZ alongside his Renault Megane RS250, says he wasn’t worried about buying the car sight unseen.
“I watched videos online and read lots of reviews. I know it has a lack of power but I’m not buying it for that.”
Subaru only announced the pricing of the car at the weekend: $37,150 drive-away, including free scheduled servicing for three years.
Subaru directed customers to its website so it could then allocate the car to the nearest dealer for delivery, rather than have dealers (and customers) squabbling over so few cars.
The Subaru’s twin, the Toyota 86 coupe, is sold out to October for a $29,990 model, and to November for a $35,490 model.
This info and more can be found at: http://smh.drive.com.au[/center]
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